Chapter 4. Estimation of Parameters
Published Online: 20 MAY 2003
DOI: 10.1002/0471308889.ch4
Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Book Title
Introductory Biostatistics
Additional Information
How to Cite
Le, C. T. (2003) Estimation of Parameters, in Introductory Biostatistics, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, USA. doi: 10.1002/0471308889.ch4
Publication History
- Published Online: 20 MAY 2003
- Published Print: 21 MAR 2003
ISBN Information
Print ISBN: 9780471418160
Online ISBN: 9780471308881
- Summary
- Chapter
Keywords:
- estimation;
- point estimate;
- confidence interval;
- degree of confidence;
- margin of error;
- sampling distribution;
- standard error;
- estimation of the mean;
- estimation of the proportion;
- estimation of an odds ratio;
- estimation of coefficient of correlation;
- evaluation of interventions
Summary
Decisions in health science are often made using a small sample of a population. The problem for a decision maker is to decide on the basis of data the estimated value of a parameter, such as the population mean, as well as to provide certain ideas concerning errors associated with that estimate. The focus of this chapter is on estimating the value of a parameter and the statistical procedure called estimation. Later, we introduce the strict interpretation of confidence intervals. A problem solving section appears at the end of the chapter.